Journey to the Perfect Race Car

For those of you who don’t know me, or frankly have no idea who I am, I’m Vincent and I’m part of the CorkSport team. If there’s one thing you should know about Vincent, it’s that he likes to race.

I’m a huge fan of sports car racing and pretty much anything that includes four wheels, an engine, and high speeds. Another thing you should know is that I’m still fairly new to the Pacific Northwest. I moved up here almost 10 months ago to work for the great Mazda company, CorkSport. In an effort to spread my wings and make my way to Vancouver, some sacrifices had to be made. The biggest was selling my race car.

I’ve been lucky to have owned a few good Mazdas and some other cars. I’ve been even luckier to have been able to compete with these cars, including my import drag racing Mitsubishi Eclipse and my HPDE Mazdaspeed Protege. But when I moved, they had to stay behind and find a new home. So I was left lonely. Alone, sad, and with a desire to get back on the circuit, I went on the hunt to find a new race car to compete with. Of course until I get my hands on a third generation Mazdaspeed 3. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to go far. Literally not far at all. I’m talking two desks over to our co-owner and fellow racer Mr. Derrick Ambrose, or as I like to call him Mr. Derrick. We’re polite here at CorkSport.

Tucked away in the back of his garage was a familiar face to anyone who has been around CorkSport over the years. That familiar face was a 1999 Mazda Protege with a little P5 front end action.

The old CS drag car was a little aged, a little dirty, and begging for a new life. Needless to say, I found myself my new race car. She had already been gutted and caged so the hard parts were done. With a new engine and transmission, it was in a good state to get finished up. Just a few odds and ends here and there and possibly a fresh wrap, and then she will be good to get on the track in no time.

I still haven’t decided what class of sports car racing I want to compete in. I’m thinking simple like PTE in NASA or maybe H-production in SCCA. What entry level club racing appeals to you guys the most?